NEWS

The 2^nd round of Mission Boards will have the role of advising on the implementation of the EU Missions under Horizon Europe 2021-2027. The five Mission Boards will have up to 15 independent top experts for each Mission. The European Commission (EC) published the call for experts on 5.1.2022. The deadline for applications is 02 February 2022, 17h00, CET. Interested individuals are invited to submit their application in the online survey-management system (EUSurvey).

EU Missions support Commission priorities, such as the European Green Deal, Europe fit for the Digital Age, Beating Cancer and the New European Bauhaus

The main tasks of the new Mission Boards will be to promote the EU Missions by raising awareness of the citizens and advice on the actions of the Mission’s implementation plan. The Mission Boards resulting from this call for application will build on the work of the first round of Mission Boards (ending their mandate in December 2021).

The Mission Boards advise on the full implementation of the five EU Missions working on:

• Adaptation to Climate Change;
• Cancer;
• Restore our Ocean and Waters;
• Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities;
• Soil Deal for Europe

EPSO encourages its members to apply particularly as expert for the Soil Deal Europe Mission Board.

Further information:

• European Commission
• Call for expert: application
• Commission expert group: Mission Board for Soil Deal for Europe Mission (E03816)
• EU Missions implementation plans

Source: EC, 05.01.2022

The 9^th European-wide seminar of the series supported by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and aimed at the Plant Science community and its stakeholders.

TTT: The seminar will be held online each third Thursday of the month at three (CET).

On 20th January 2022 at 15:00 (CET) we will present three talks exploring the “Potential of Plants as Alternative Protein Sources”

 Dr Paolo Annicchiarico, CREA, Italy: “Legume crop improvement: challenges and opportunities”

Prof Nesli Sözer, VTT, Finland: “Challenges and opportunities with plant based ingredients as alternative protein sources”

 Assoc Prof Stig U Andersen, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark: “Faba bean genomics and diversity – improving a globally adapted protein crop”

The seminars will be hosted on Zoom and last approximately 1.5 hours. Numbers will be limited to 300 attendees and therefore please register early if you would like to join. There will be ample opportunities to ask questions and join the debate. So please join us to support this new and exciting initiative for European Plant Science by following this link just prior to the start of the seminar.

EPSO members register in advance for this meeting:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEpc–qpjwiH9RFhVQiEJMZvTKVZfQhHpvX

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

In the coming months we will be on the lookout for talented plant scientists among the EPSO membership to present their findings and perspectives to the EPSO seminar series. If we approach you to talk, we hope you will be happy to support the initiative. This is a fantastic opportunity for both eminent world leaders and talented up-and-coming early career researchers to present their research to an international audience and to network with potential collaborators. If you wish to suggest a theme for one of the spring seminars and / or nominate yourself or one of your colleagues to give a seminar, we most welcome your suggestions. Please contact Tim George ([email protected]) to provide your name and potential talk title.

We look forward to seeing you all for the 8^th EPSO seminar on the 20^th January 2022

Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser

EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee

 Click here to read: Full EPSO news item

 Contacts:

• Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board
• Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & EPSO President
• Marie-Theres Hauser BOKU / AT & EPSO Board

The fascinating world of plants will be once more in the spotlight thanks to the celebration of the sixth Fascination of Plants Day on and around May 18th 2022.

This coordinated activity aims to plant virtual and constantly germinating seeds in the collective mind of people, recalling that plant science is of critical significance to social, environmental and economic issues on our Earth today and in future.

Scientific institutions, universities, botanical gardens and museums, together with schools, farmers and companies will offer a variety of plant-based interactive events and activities for all interested people from toddlers to grandparents.

Check the FoPD website www.plantday18may.org  to know more and find your event around 18 May 2022 and follow us on our social media:

• Twitter: @PlantDay18May
• Instagram : @fascinationofplantsday
• Facebook: Fascination of Plants Day

To read the full press release click here.

The shorter public version of the Newsletter is available here.
Please, log in and read the full version available in the Members’ Only section.

Enjoy reading and send us your articles early March for the spring 2022 Newsletter.

EPSO members can enjoy the recordings and use them for future work and to write competitive proposals for European and other funding calls. Recordings of the EPSO sessions at the Plant Biology Europe 2021 conference are now available on the EPSO members only website [link] for three months. The joint conference of EPSO and FESPB was held 28 June to 1 July and offered an exciting programme.

Science themes included for example: Plant performance under abiotic stress (incl. adaptation to climate change), Cell signaling in plants, Plant Metabolism and bioactive compounds (incl. crop improvement for healthy diet), Plants in extreme environments, Plant evolution and development, Trafficking and transport in plants, Chloroplast biology (incl. molecular and cellular organization of the photosynthetic systems), Carbon fixation and productivity, From plant defense to plant immunity, Plant epigenetics, The plant microbiome, Plant nutrition, Translating plant research from lab to field, Genomics and genome editing for crop design.

EPSO was not only involved in the science sessions, but as well in several other sessions we highlight hereafter for you and link the respective recording files:

The two EPSO Young Plant Scientists Awardees, Ann-Katrin Beuel (on applied plant research) and Apolonio Huerta (on fundamental plant research) presented their work (see page 3). In the science and policy session ‘Plant Research – European Green Deal – Global Future’ participants discussed with the panel experts contributions of plant science to the European Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the role of the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme (see page 4). The European Commission and EPSO held the session on ‘The ERC – European funding for frontier research in plant’ and the GPC and EPSO organised a workshop on the Nagoya Protocol.

Tu, 29.6.

• 10:30 – 11:00 Ann-Katrin Beuel – EPSO Young Plant Scientist Award (YPSA) for applied plant research (chair: Ernst van den Ende; plenary – see page 3)

• 15:00 – 16:30 Nagoya Protocol panel discussion on access to genetic resources (GPC & EPSO – Nils Stein; parallel)

We, 30.6.

• 13:00 -14:30  ‘Plant Research – European Green Deal – Global Future’ science policy session (organised by EPSO; incl. Alan S & Ulrich Schurr as experts; Karin M, Aldo Ceriotti & Josef Glössl as moderators; plenary – see page 4)

• 16:20 – 16:50  Apolonio Huerta – EPSO Young Plant Scientist Award (YPSA) for fundamental plant research (chair: Alan S; plenary – see page 3)

• 17:00 – 18:30 ‘The ERC – European funding for frontier research in plant science’ (organised by ERC and EPSO; including Dirk Inze; plenary).

Enjoy the recordings and use them for your future work and to write competitive proposals for European and other funding calls.

Find full information and the YPSA award announcement and the science policy session in the full news item.

Alan, Andrea and Karin

Alan Schulman (EPSO President), Andrea Schubert (Conference organiser), Karin Metzlaff (EPSO Executive Director)

Contacts: Karin Metzlaff, Andrea Schubert

The 8th European-wide seminar of the series supported by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and aimed at the Plant Science community and its stakeholders.

TTT: The seminar will be held online each third Thursday of the month at three (CET).

On 16th December 2021 at 15:00 (CET) we will present three talks exploring the “Future of Plant Nutrition”

Prof Søren Husted, University of Copenhagen, Denmark:  “Dissecting nutrient key-functionalities in metabolism to identify latent nutritional disorders in crops”

Dr Antoine Martin, BPMP, CNRS, Montpellier, France :   “Genomics of plant nutrition in the context of climate change”

Dr Eva Oburger, Institute of Soil Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences – BOKU, Vienna, Austria: “Phytosiderophore release of contrasting barley (Hordeum vulgare) lines grown in Zn and Cu deficient soils”

 The seminars will be hosted on Zoom and last approximately 1.5 hours. Numbers will be limited to 300 attendees and therefore please register early if you would like to join. There will be ample opportunities to ask questions and join the debate. So please join us to support this new and exciting initiative for European Plant Science by following this link just prior to the start of the seminar.

EPSO members register in advance for this meeting:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0pceuspzgrHNPSV6F62KQr6tDb_54V-PQk

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

In the coming months we will be on the lookout for talented plant scientists among the EPSO membership to present their findings and perspectives to the EPSO seminar series. If we approach you to talk, we hope you will be happy to support the initiative. This is a fantastic opportunity for both eminent world leaders and talented up-and-coming early career researchers to present their research to an international audience and to network with potential collaborators. If you wish to suggest a theme for one of the spring seminars and / or nominate yourself or one of your colleagues to give a seminar, we most welcome your suggestions. Please contact Tim George ([email protected]) to provide your name and potential talk title.

We look forward to seeing you all for the 8^th EPSO seminar on the 16^th December 2021

Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser

EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee

Click here to read: Full EPSO news item

Contacts:

• Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board
• Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & EPSO President
• Emily Breeze, Warwick University / UK & EPSO Representative